Coupling for drill pipes



April 29, 1924.,

L.H.GREENE COUPLING FOR DRILL PIPES Filed Feb. 1 1922 Inn/51v TOR L0ENZO H. GREENE Patented Apr. 29, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Application filed February 1, 1922. Serial 1T0. 588,224.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LORENZO H. G a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Couplings forDrill Pipes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to couplings for drill pipes of the character usedin by raulic boring, and a purpose of my invention is the provision of acoupling which is constructed to form an additional or subsidiarywaterway or port, and a valve controlling the mam and subsidiarywater-ways or ports in such manner that the operation of supply;

. ing an additional drill pipe section can readily accomplished withoutany cessation in the flow of water into the pipe or any reduction in itsressure.

I will descri e one form of coupling embodying my invention and willthen point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a view showing in vertical section one form of couplingembodying my invention in applied position between the two sections of adrill pipe.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 2-2 andlooking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring specifically to the drawings in which similar referencecharacters refer to similar parts, my invention in its presentembodiment comprises a tubular body designated generally at B andincluding in the present instance a main section 15 and a subsidiarysection 16, although it is to be understood that the body may be formedof one piece without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thesubsidiary section 16.

is provided with an ofi'set collar 17 threaded exteriorly to engage theinner wall of the section 15 and shaped in the same manner as the otherend of the section 15. The lower ends .of the section 15 and the section16 are screw threaded interiorly to receive the confronting ends of twosections of drill pipe D and to thereby serve as a .coupling forconnecting the two sections, as will be understood.

The main section 15 is provided at a point between its ends with awater-way or en- ;"trance port 18 adapted to be closed by a screw plug19, with the walls of the port flanged as indicated at20 to accommodateened portion 24 the pin The collar 17 is of annular form as clear yshown in Figure 1 and the bore of th1s collar constitutes an entranceort 21. The lower edge of the collar 17 and t e inner edge of the an e20 constitute valveseats upon either of w ich is adapted to repose avalve V provided with a pivot car 22 adapted to fit in the recess 23formed in a thick- I of the section B as clearly shown 1n Figure 2. Apivot pin 25 is extended through suitable openings formed in thethickened portion 24 and the car 22 for pivotally sustaining the ear andconsequently the valve so that the latter can move from the positionshown in solid lines in Iflgure 1 to the position shown in dotted lines.

In operation, coupling shown in Figure 1 constitute the upper end of adrill pipe to which water is adapted to be supplied from a suitableconnectlon to the upper end of the coupling so that it passes downwardlythrough the drill pipe in eflecting the boring operation. It will beclear that under these conditions the pressure of water operates tomaintain the valve V in closing position with respect to the port 18 andin opening position with respect to the port 21. As the boring operat1onproceeds it is of course necessary to add from time to time additionalsections of drill pipe, and when adding a section the plug 19 is removedfrom the port 18 and a water pipe P shown in dash lines in Figure -1 isinserted Within the port 18. The water introduced into'the coupling fromthis pipe naturally swings the valve V to the dotted line position shownin Figure 1 thereby opening the port 18 and closing the port 21. Thiswater passes downwardly through the drill pipe and operates in the samemanner to efi'ect a. hydraulic boring of the well. As the valve V is nowin closing position with respect to the port 21, it wi 1 be clear thatan additional section of drill pipe can be readily applied to thesection 16 and without the necessity of discontinuing the supply ofwater to the drill pipe. After the pipe section has been added thesupply of water again takes Iplace at the top of the coupling, the pipeplug 19 again applied.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of couplingembodying myinvention, it is to be understood that various changes andmodifications may be being removed and the let it be assumed that the Ymade herein without departing, from the spirit of the invention and thespirit and see e of the appended claims.

hat I claim is:

1. The combination with sections 01 pipe forming a drill stem, of a conling adapted to connect two sections of the rill stem and having a sideopenin and two internal valve seats at right ang es to each other, onein the main line and one for the side openadapted to reing, the saidopening being a valve mountceive a water pipe or a plug,

ed in the chamber of the coupling and.

adapted to close either opening so that when a drill pipe section is tobe added the plug may be removed and a water pipe connected untilthedrill stem goes down to the extent of a section and then the water fiiperemoved and the plu inserted to'a ow the coupling togo on own into thewell.

2. A couphng adapted to connect two sections of drill pipes and havingaside opening and two mternal valve seats at right angles to each other,one'seat being in the I mam line and the other being for the sideopening, the side opening. being adapted to receive a water pipe or aplug, and a valve mounted in the chamber of the coupling and adapted toclose either opening.-

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this s ecification.

iORENZO H. GREENE.

